Princess Princess "Diamonds Story" Bluray Box Set!

A MUST-HAVE for ANY manic Princess Princess fan, my order for their epic Blu-Ray Concert Box Set DIAMONDS STORY came in today and HOLY TOLEDO is it BEAUTIFULLLLL!

A HUGE and HEAVY box set, a good 1/5th of the price was for the SHIPPING alone but it was WELL worth worth it!!! 

Back when I had picked up their "Complete Princess" collection, encompassing their entire music career, I thought I'd had it all so was negligent when they released a remastered set years later, and missed out on it. So when they announced a remastered BLU RAY set their video releases, I made SURE I was on TOP of things when it came to purchasing it!

This collected ALL their video releases from their first concert "Here We Are" to their Final 1996 Concert, their COMPLETE Video Clips Collection as well as their two Reunion Concert releases, all housed in a BEAUTIFUL slipcase Box!! 

Disc1- PRINCESS PRINCESS PANIC TOUR "HERE WE ARE" (1988) 

Disc2- LET'S GET CRAZY Live at Bodokan (1989) 

Disc3- DOLLS IN LAS VEGAS (1992) 

Disc4 VIDEO CLIPS Complete Edition 

Disc5- Live Shitsujitsu Goken at Budokan (1994)

Disc6 The Platinum Days-1 The Greatest Princess (1996) 

Disc7- The Platinum Days-2 The Greatest Princess (1996) 

Disc8-  The Last Live (1996)  

Disc9- PRINCESS PRINCESS TOUR 2012～再会～at 武道館 

Disc10- PRINCESS PRINCESS TOUR 2012～再会～ "The Last Princess"＠東京ドーム 

Disc11- PRINCESS PRINCESS TOUR 2012-2016 再会 -FOR EVER- "後夜祭" at 豊洲PIT 

Disc12- [PRINCESS PRINCESS PANIC TOURE SUMMER ～Dear my best friends ～

プリンセス プリンセス LIVE '95 THE PRESENTS (WOWOW 1995年3月26日放送)

Along with the bluray releases, the box came with BEAUTIFUL replicas of all their Tour Programs through the years, SOOOO AWESOME! Now, I'd seen scans of some of these from various fan sites over time, it was terrific to have hard copies at last!

ALL of them wonderful to look through, and some of these went beyond mere tour programs of old- some were hardcover BOOKS, worthy of purchasing all on their OWN!

Besides all these bluray Concerts, Videoclips, Documentaries and reunions, there was a 12th bluray disc, and THIS ONE was the one I was MOST anticipating, for this featured two concert clips, one from 1988 Summer PANIC TOUR ~Dear My Best Friends~ and one from the 1995 "THE PRESENTS" Tour.

The Summer Panic Tour showed the young and boisterous girls in their earlier days... Parts of this concert was featured in snippets before and it was thrilling to see  the "whole thing' at last!

But I HAVE to say, it was the latter "THE PRESENTS" Concert clips I was vying to see most- In their wonderful "Platinum Days" documentary, they'd featured a few clips from this concert, including an ALL OUT ROCKIN' perf of "Bee-Beep" and I was just DYING to see MORE!

WELL, I wasn't disappointed and was promptly BLOWN AWAY by how FREAKIN' AWESOME it was! Gals never sounded BETTER- Kanako's guitar SONIC, Atsuko's Bass growly and DENSE, Kyoko's drums SHARP and CRACKING, Tomoko's piano tinkly and GROOVY, and KAORI's VOICE...DAMN, simply a SIREN!!!

From the thumpin' "Pilot Ni Naritakute" to "So Long Dreamer" the rarely performed "Birthday Song", the aforementioned "Bee-Beep", a CRAZEE perf of "Hetchara"(!) classics "Diamonds" and "19 Growing up" to the emotional and tear-inducing "One" and the encore crushing "Seven Years After", they reminded me ONCE AGAIN why I LOVE them so MUCH!!!

I've still got to make time to sit down and check out all the other blu-rays in here and see how they fare (lucky I just started my vacation!!) but ya know, I think I'm gonna have to re-watch this particular concert performance ONE MORE TIME!

Favorite J-Pop Singles: Princess Princess: "Diamonds"

 Though princess Princess have long officially disbanded (with a few wonderful reunion concerts sporadically since then), Lead Singer Kaori Kishitani (nee Okui) has kept busy, with her own youtube channel and a smaller band of musicians backing her up to keep the music alive!
We recently got a treat full of warmth and nostalgia when Kaori uploaded a wonderful performance of their classic song “Diamonds” with nothing but her piano and that still commanding and vibrant voice of hers!

Ah, Diamonds!!! I got into Princess Princess just as they were announcing their breakup, and though that may have been bad timing, it did give me a whole slew of live performances and appearances to enjoy as the band made their final circuit on all the music shows, culminating in their final concert. On one such show, the legendary MUSIC STATION, the band announced their retirement once more, and as their send-off song, they chose their 1989 single to close the show. This was the first time I had ever heard Diamonds, but I was IMMEDIATELY won over by it, and after seeing perform a few more songs on other shows, wasted no time grabbing up their CDs! I was to soon fall in love with practically their entire catalog, but then and now, Diamonds has ALWAYS been up there in the top!! 

Watching Kaori at the piano playing up the song, as SOON as she went into that old familiar melody, I was brought back to those days of pure Pri Pri fascination and have to marvel at how doggone great this band really was/is!!!

So great to see Kaori still doing her thing and bringing the MAGIC to us fans as ALWAYS!!!

Favorite J-Pop Singles: Hiroko Moriguchi: Hitori Jyanaiyo

Been quite awhile since I took the time to do any write ups of my favorite J-pop singles of the past, but over this weekend I dug out my old Hiroko Moriguchi albums and was reminded once again of the greatness of her 1997 single "Hitori Jyanaiyo"!

Beginning with a guitar scratching riff, the song opens up with a sweet, disco-infused passage with bouncy horns and then launches into the catchy pop tune, and if the disco reference isn't already felt, the song even throws in hints of the Tavares' "More Than A Woman"  at the end of every chorus!

Hiroko sings the song with much playfulness in her voice, and as the song goes back to the "More Than A Woman" riff on more time (with a playful bass scale climbing down), it returns to the opening disco horn vamp which closes the song- an ABSOLUTE Pop-Perfect masterpiece!

From the FIRST time I heard it, I already knew that the songwriter was going to be Kohmi Hirose before I checked the credits, not only has Hiroko done many Kohmi Hirose penned songs (like "Lucky Girl~Shinjiru Mono wa Sukuwareru~"), but Kohmi's style of music is unmistakeable and immediately recognizable!

In fact, with all of her amazing, classic songs, it's sad to think that for most of the western audiences, Kohmi Hirose will only ever be known as the singer for the silly "Geddan" video meme! But back to Hiroko....

As documented here, the first song I knew from Hiroko Moriguchi was "Let's Go!!" her duet with Dual Dream, but it was a spot in a Princess Princess Music Fair special (where Hiroko, Arisa Mizuki, and Chisato Moritaka joined Pri Pri onstage to belt out their classics) where I realized how well she could SING!

Since I'd known her primarily as a comedienne and TV Show Host, I'd thought her musical musings were just fun side-projects, but when Music Station celebrated their 10 year anniversary, I saw how many of her singles were bonafide classics, with songs like "Anata No Sobani" and the majestic "Eternal Wind~ Hohoemi wa Hikaru Kaze no Naka", most of which I picked up for myself over time!

Later she'd blow me away with a swinging' performance of her song "Sisen" on that year's Kohaku Uta Gassen and then in 1997 came Hitori Jyanaiyo, the song that would go on to become one of my best-loved songs from her!

Side Note:
I remember I'd made a J-pop mix in 2005 or so and ended it with the beautiful Ayaka Hirahara song "Ashita" from the Ninomiya Kazunari drama "Yasashi Jikan".... 
Flowed nicely but I was left with such a sad feeling that at the last minute added Hiroko's Hitori Jyanaiyo as the official mix closing song, which summed it up nicely- or so I thought!
Later after my friend Car has given the CD mix a spin, she said, "Why did you add that pop song at the end? It was such a PERFECT ending with the Ayaka Hirahara song!" LOL, truth be told Car was not a huge fan of the more bubbly pop kind of tunes, but as for me, I quite liked my mixes ending on a bright note! Hahaha!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Princess Princess Still The Greatest Rock n Roll Act Around!!!

Just caught the Reunion Concert Princess Princess performed a few weeks back and MAN! I was simply BLOWN AWAY by how fierce and ROCKING these now 50+ years old ladies still are!!!

Princess Princess formed in 1983 and held their final concert some 13 years later in 1996, but after the Tohoku Earthquake disaster in 2011, the girls (along with other celebrated acts like Kome Kome Club) reunited for a benefit relief concert, and they’ve been working together and playing on-and off ever since!

In recognition of the 5 year anniversary of the disaster Princess Princess held this concert telecast on the WOWOW channel, and it’s just incredible that they’re sounding as good as ever, Kaori still rocking that incredible voice and Oh My GOSH, KYOKO still able to attack those drums as hard and frenetic as she used to!! You know, Drums were the most “physical” of instruments to play and Puri Puri ALWAYS had the most COMPLICATED drum parts with many, many changes throughout the songs, and to see her still pounding away at it was truly amazing to watch!

Kaori

Kanako

Atsuko

Tomoko

Kyoko

Now, my friend had been trying to get me a copy of this concert for a couple of weeks now, but since I’d already seen the reunion concert from 2012 and expected it to be similar, I told him there was no rush. Eventually I downloaded a copy of the concert myself, and sat back expecting a night of fine tunes and reminiscing… what I got was one of the finest Princess Princess concerts ever!!

First off, the girls were in absolute top-form, back in 2012 they were still a little bit rusty after not playing for 16 years, but you could tell in this concert that they had put months and months of work into regaining their incredible onstage chops, and secondly, the SONGS they chose to play were simply INSPIRED!!!!! Oh My GOD, they performed songs that I’d heretofore only seen done in “Medley” or “snippet” form, and they even did a couple of songs I’ve NEVER seen them do live before!!!

They began the concert with their anthem “19 Growing Up” then right into “Oh Yeah” and “Sekai De ichiban Atsui Natsu”, and by the time they began “Julian” I thought I was right in believing they were going to do pretty much their same set that they’ve been doing since the 1996 concert….and then I heard the rocking riffs of the awesome song “Shake It Off”, a song I’d NEVER seen them do live before, and they were so goddamn awesome I just stood there with my MOUTH hanging OPEN!

But that was just the beginning! Without missing a beat, they went right into another song from their LOVERS album, “Koi Ni Ochitara” one of my favorite songs that I’d only seen a clip of them doing on The Platinum Days video! I pulled my chair right up to the TV screen and said “NOW I know I’m in for a SHOW!” What were they gonna do NEXT?

Next came KISS, one of the very first songs I knew and loved from them (I even wrote about it here) and it was soooo soooo sentimental and sweet, I began to get misty-eyed listening to it, and by the time it wrapped up tis beautiful harmonic conclusion I was fighting back the tears, I was breaking gout in goosebumps that I was seeing these songs LIVE!

Then they went into “You are My Starship”, another BIG fave of mine that I’d only seen a clip performed once, and even then it was a special “taiko drum” version, for the first time I got to see the song done with Kaori performing the proper “dance moves” to it, sashaying and hip swinging along to this joyful tune, and I was so overwhelmed with nostalgia and gratitude that before I knew it, I was CRYING as I watched it!!!

They then had a little chat session which gave me time to regain my composure and it’s a good thing they did because when they came back they went right into the awesome, powerful smoker “Omoide No Sukima~ Sad Memories” off of the TELEPORTATION album, I was beside myself seeing this performed for the first time and MAN, when they built up to the conclusion where all the music stops and Kaori belts out “ANATA NIIIII….LONELY NIGHT!” I was singing RIGHT ALONG, I swear I couldn’t have been more excited if I was AT THE CONCERT itself!

They broke out the acoustic guitars for a smooth version of “She” before going into a song I NEVER thought I’d EVER see them do, the coupling song off of their very last single Natsu No Owari, the Intensely Beatlesey “Seishun Daydream” and DAMN, the vocals and guitar…just INCREDIBLE…never knew the verses were sung by Kanako and Tomoko with Kaori handling the choruses, aw man, they sounded so Damn SWEET!

From there they finished of the concert with the classics I’d come to expect, but even then, these sounded so organic and raw, hits like “Highway Star” and “Pilot Ni Naritakutte” sounded like I was listening to a seasoned Blues rock band in a smoky Saloon belting out rock n roll classics, so RAW!

And ANOTHER thing was how freaking TIGHT these gals were- there were times when I was listening to it and realizing that I wasn’t listening to a record album- the music I was hearing was being played by those 5 girls onstage! What an amazing WALL OF SOUND!

They wrapped up the concert with a blistering version of Seven years After before re-emerging for encores of M and of course the fan favorite “Diamonds”, which featured a very bass-heavy mix showcasing how solid Atsuko is and closing what ended up being one of the best concerts I’ve seen in YEARS!!!!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com